


Forecast of Rain

by Amahami



Series: All Around Us [6]
Category: Fullmetal Alchemist: Brotherhood & Manga
Genre: Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, Chronic Pain, Drug Dealing, Ed is dying, Gen, Illnesses, Secrets, Sick Edward Elric, ed does not die in this fic, rated m for the combo of controversial topics, trisha's illness was hereditary
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-08-21
Updated: 2020-08-21
Packaged: 2021-03-05 20:00:15
Rating: Mature
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,526
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/25980976
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Amahami/pseuds/Amahami
Summary: A prepubescent kid is trying to buy prescription pain killers from one of Madame Christmas' girls. They call Roy in because they have no idea how to handle a kid in this situation.Or: Mustang finds out Fullmetal takes prescription pain killers, and more.(Ed does have his doctor's approval for the pain killers -- he just can't get to his doctor for a new prescription)
Relationships: Edward Elric & Roy Mustang
Series: All Around Us [6]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1858846
Comments: 9
Kudos: 209





	Forecast of Rain

**Author's Note:**

> This is one of the first fics I wrote for this series, though I only wrote the first half at the time. I'm so excited for y'all to finally see it!
> 
> Thank you to my beta [Shilo](https://archiveofourown.org/users/shilo1364/pseuds/shilo1364) for being awesome, as always.
> 
> I hope you enjoy :)

Per Madame Christmas’ request, Roy Mustang arrived at her bar at his usual time, sans uniform.

He was wearing his usual civilian garb – a decent suit that was really very flattering, if he did say so himself. Which he did, every time he wore it.

He walked leisurely but purposefully to the end of the bar and sat down. 

Chris made him a mojito, which she only did when she was asking him to do something that night.

Mustang took his time drinking it, enjoying the taste and listening to the chatter behind him, until Anna touched his shoulder and whispered seductively in his ear.

“I’m going to take you upstairs to talk to you,” she said, waiting for him to nod before taking the stool next to him and putting on her work smile. 

“So what brings you here tonight, sir?” she said in her sensual voice, though a tad louder than usual.

Mustang shrugged, taking a sip. “Wanted a nice cool drink before the night heated up.”

Chris, back towards them, snorted. They both ignored her.

“That sounds perfect,” Anna said, flicking her dark hair behind her. She leaned heavily on Roy, turning her head to mouth at Mustang’s neck.

Which, for the record, was grimy with dried sweat and dirt from his busy day. He shuddered in disgust, though to anyone looking it would have looked like pleasure.

Whatever it was Anna wanted, she was still getting paid for this. 

Mustang shivered as he finished his drink. He set it down and stood up, wrapping an arm around the tall woman, letting her lead him upstairs to the play rooms.

As they passed the many doors upstairs, moans and the other usual sounds of the workers' goings-on filtered into the hallway.

Anna led him to her own silent room and locked the door behind him. They sat down at the far end of the room at the small café table. 

Mustang laced his bare fingers together atop the table, waiting for her to gather her thoughts.

He didn’t have to wait long.

“A kid wants drugs from me. Asked specifically for oxycontin 40, as many tablets as I could get my hands on. Said he had enough to pay for it.”

Mustang’s eyebrows drew together, “Why are you coming to me with this, Anna?” he asked.

She'd come to him with the occasional problem client or stalker, but never someone wanting to buy drugs from her.

“No way has he hit puberty yet, Roy. I can’t sell to a fuckin’ kid, what kinda gal do you think I am?” Anna’s cheeks reddened in anger as she leaned over the table into his face.

Mustang opened his hands and raised them in surrender, “I know you’re a kind woman who adores kids and does everything you can to keep them out of trouble. I presumed ‘kid’ meant ‘young adult’ in this instance and that’s my own fault.”

Anna nodded in forgiveness and continued, “I’m set to meet him in the back room at two. Could you give him resources to help or, hell, I dunno,” she trailed off, scratching at the back of her neck absentmindedly. “Something. Anything. I can’t help him but he needs help.”

Mustang smiled, “I appreciate the trust, dear sister. I’ll see what I can do. If he’s already addicted, though, he will need _some_ meds. Do you have," he paused for a moment to do some quick mental math. "Forty-five pills? I’ll get the money from him, or else I’ll pay you next week when I drop by.”

Anna sighed and nodded, getting up to dig through the secret compartment above the window where she kept her money. 

And that's how Mustang found himself in the back room two hours after he’d prefer to be in bed.

He was slouched in a chair in the corner of the room, with only the outside light on.

The back room was filled with all manner of sex paraphernalia, and was usually reserved for the more… _expensive_ clients.

Eventually, the door opened, and a short individual in a dark cloak entered the room. He limped towards the back, taking his hood off as he walked.

Halfway into the room he froze, staring at Mustang.

“Colonel?” Edward squeaked, joints visibly locked into place.

 _“Fullmetal?”_ Mustang said in disbelief, flicking the rest of the lights on.

A few moments passed while they both processed what happened, then Edward turned on his heel and hurried to the door.

“Stay,” Mustang ordered.

Ed didn’t move for several moments, before his shoulders drooped and he turned back around and scuffed his way to the chair across from Mustang. 

The two had a staring contest, which neither won, both being stubborn asses.

Finally, Mustang set the pill bottle on the table. Edward studied his face before picking the bottle up.

“I’m going to be away from cities too long for this to be enough,” Ed finally said after studying the bottle.

Mustang shook his head, “That’s all you’re getting, and it’s only to help you detox so you don’t have to go through as bad of a withdrawal, or, I don't know… Die.”

Ed dropped his head to the table roughly, yelling into it. Mustang kindly gave him a while to get it out.

“I’m not addicted,” Ed finally said as he raised his head up to look at Mustang. 

He didn’t appear to be lying. Mustang just raised an eyebrow.

“Really,” Ed continued, “I’m not. I-” he cut himself off and heaved a sigh far too great for his age, “I’m in a lot of pain, okay? I’m dependent, not addicted.”

This… Didn’t clear anything up. Mustang told him as much.

“Do I really have to spell this out to you, Bastard? I have chronic pain. A lot of it. And Al can’t find out, so I need the oxycontin so I can act normal and not like I’m constantly in excruciating pain.”

Mustang studied Ed for a while before finally asking, “Have you seen a doctor?”

“Have I seen a- Yes, of course I have! He said it sounds like- I’m in a lot of pain, and he can’t do anything to help me except prescribe painkillers until- for the long-term.”Mustang knew he was only getting partial truths, and it was honestly far too late for him to hear the words unsaid.

“Look, I've already been gone too long; I need to go back before Al suspects anything. Please don’t tell anyone. _Please_. And- And I really do need more than this. I can pay you upfront for them.” Edward pulled a wad of cash out of his pocket and tossed it on the table.

Mustang nodded numbly as Ed swiped the pill bottle and limped away, swallowing one as he walked.

Mustang got up and closed up the room, pocketing the cash. He caught Chris on her way to the kitchen.

"Is Anna with a client?" he asked her.

"No, she just finished for the night. She is probably still cleaning up her room," Chris said.

"Thank you," Roy said, turning his back to her to take the stairs.

A few moments after he knocked on Anna's door it opened a crack. She glared out of it at the hallway until she registered who she was looking at.

Anna opened the door wide enough to let Mustang in before she closed and locked it. She wore a knee-length skirt and a tank top, and she was holding a mop.

Mustang carefully stepped over the wet floor and headed to the back of the room to the café table.

"You're good to sit there," Anna said as she continued mopping where she'd left off.

Roy sat down in one of the chairs after pulling out the wad of cash from Fullmetal.

"The kid's my ward," he said bluntly.

Anna froze and blinked for a few moments. "The Fullmetal Alchemist?"

"That's him. He apparently has chronic pain. And apparently a prescription. I'll call him in tomorrow to get more information, but he'll be okay, regardless. Thank you, Anna."

Anna hummed in acknowledgement before she finished mopping. She put the mop away, then wiped down the surfaces in the room.

Roy counted out the money.

"Holy shit," he muttered after he was absolutely sure he'd counted out the money correctly. "He said he'd pay up front to prove he had the cash, and because he trusts me." He turned to Anna and held the stack of bills in the air so she could see. 

"That's 250,000 cenz."

Anna coughed. "Excuse me?" she asked incredulously.

"He sleeps in the worst, rat-infested places wherever he goes. He doesn't spend hardly any money. He must be serious about all of this," Roy said, gesticulating ambiguously.

Anna nodded and returned the cleaning supplies to their cupboard under the sink.

Roy stood up. "Thank you for bringing this to my attention," he said formally as he pulled out his wallet.

He handed Anna 2,000 cenz. 

"Could I also get two hundred…. Thirty-six? Of the oxycontin 40s."

"I only have half that right now," she warned, "and it'll take me a few days to get the rest." 

Anna took the cash Roy handed her, as well as half the money Roy had left on the table.

She put the money away above the window and withdrew a very full bottle of pills. "There should be 125 pills in there."

Roy nodded and pocketed the bottle. "Thank you, Anna. I bid you a good night." He bowed his head.

Anna rolled her eyes but kissed each of Roy's cheeks. "Thank you, Roy. Goodnight."

Roy saw himself out and headed to his childhood bedroom on the top floor. It was far too late to go home, then, so he laid down on the soft, dusty bed to sleep.

He slept like a rock in the ocean.

______

The next day, bright and early, he called the Elrics' number in the barracks.

"Hello?" Alphonse answered.

"Good morning, Alphonse. It's Colonel Roy Mustang. I need your brother to come in today."

"Oh, sure, when do you want us?" he asked.

"Ah, no, it's an official military meeting with higher-ups, so i'm afraid you can't come, Alphonse," Roy said, wincing.

"Oh," Al said quietly. "Okay. Where should he be and at what time?"

"Does he have anything officially scheduled today?" Roy asked, skimming through his own schedule.

"No, Brother was just going to go to the library. He's gone out to get breakfast, and will be back at any time."

"Alright, have the Fullmetal Alchemist meet me in my office at 9:45 this morning, please, Alphonse," Mustang said formally.

"Of course, Sir. I'll tell him it's at 9:15, and he might be on-time."

Mustang smiled. "That's a great idea, Alphonse. Thank you."

"You're welcome!" he said. "Have a good day, Sir!"

"You too, Alphonse. Goodbye." He hung the phone up.

Alphonse was brilliant. Fullmetal was precisely on time.

He kicked the door open, as per usual. Hawkeye led him into his inner office and closed the door behind him.

"Have a seat, Fullmetal," he said.

Ed sighed but sat down, spreading himself out along the couch.

"I told your brother we were meeting with higher-ups so he couldn't come. We had a meeting with General Hakuro and his team to consult on a case involving an alchemist who can read and manipulate sound waves. So it's incredibly dangerous to discuss it so you cannot discuss it with him, or you risk him, the alchemist, going after you and Alphonse. The meeting took place in meeting room Manganese."

Ed took a moment. "Sound alchemist, danger to Al, Manganese. Got it." 

He froze when Mustang sat forward in his chair, resting his chin on his laced fingers.

"Tell me the whole story," Roy commanded, setting the pill bottle loudly on his desktop.

Ed looked over and once he saw the bottle his eyebrows disappeared behind his hair.

"What is there to tell?" Ed said after a moment. "I have two limbs made of steel. They're heavy, awkward, and painful."

"I said the _whole_ story, Fullmetal." Roy looked closely at his subordinate. Something about him looked… Off.

"That _is_ the whole story, Bastard!" Ed said quietly but angrily.

"Something is the matter with you," Mustang began, keeping his voice calm. "And I will find out what it is. Either you tell me, or I start digging."

Mustang wasn't usually one to threaten his subordinates, especially not when he wasn't absolutely sure there was something there.

Edward stiffened under Mustang's intense scrutiny. After several tense moments, he slumped forward. "I'm dying, Mustang."

Mustang's brain shorted out. His eyes unfocused and all he could do was blink for a moment.

"Excuse me?" There was no way he'd heard right.

"The disease that killed my mom is apparently hereditary. I've got it." Ed looked like the kid he was in that moment -- lost, confused, unknowing, and _young_.

"That can't be right," he said desperately. "There has to have been some mistake."

Ed laughed bitterly. He held his flesh hand out, and his fingers twitched at random intervals, his arm itself occasionally doing the same.

"I've had to widen my shoes to help me keep from falling over, and the only reason I haven't collapsed is because one of my legs is made of metal. My joints ache so bad sometimes that I lose my hearing. My hand-eye coordination has gone to shit. My mom experienced all'a this, Mustang. I'm dying." Ed finally returned his spasming hand to his lap.

"Fuck," Mustang said elegantly. 

"Yeah," Ed replied shortly.

"What about your bodies?" Roy finally asked, once his brain settled enough to start thinking ahead.

"Getting Al's body back is still my number one priority--"

"And that's why you need the pain killers; you need to keep going," Mustang finished.

Ed nodded.

"I don't suppose there's a name to this disease of yours?" Mustang asked, as he moved the pill bottle to the corner of his desk closest to Edward.

"Nope," he said, popping the p. "Not one of the doctors my mom saw even took her seriously until her fingers and toes went blue. Two weeks before she died."

Roy grimaced. He elected not to say anything in response, lest it be mistaken for pity.

Once the moment had passed, he said, "Anna will have the rest of them for you in a few days." Roy gestured to the pill bottle. "We'll locate the sound alchemist then, and the day following I'll give you your next assignment."

Roy needed time to think and come up with a plan. This was the perfect set up to enable him to do so, and he didn't even have to manufacture it.

"Sure," Ed said, slowly standing up. "Is that all?"

"For now," Mustang said. "Dismissed."

Ed saluted him properly in thanks before he grabbed the pill bottle and disappeared it somewhere on his body. Ed left the office at a leisurely pace, waving to the others as he left.

Roy needed to think up a plan.

He sighed dramatically and picked up his pen.

**Author's Note:**

> You can pester me on: [tumblr](ryanthedemiboy.tumblr.com), [twitter](twitter.com/ryanthedemiboy), and discord (amahami#8913)
> 
> Thank you for reading! Please let me know what you think.


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